totaled out benz..will miss greatly
 

Hi guys..

Well my decision is to receive a cash out for $4200. insur co did raise the amount from $2500.I'm unable to buy car back because the insur co. is going to salvage and sell my benz as a parts only car.

I wil miss my benz dearly..but it's time to say good-bye..
All this for an air-bag deployment.

Bought an awesome 1993 Lexus SC300 .... now off to the Lexus forums.

Thanks again for all your help...this has been a great forum.. :)

You'll be back
 

japanische Autos bringen's nicht!

Your getting screwed. An airbag deployment does not total a car. Make the insurance company give you a unscathed title and buy an airbag from a junk yard and keep about $4000 in profit.

Not true! Front flex disc failure resulting in airbag deployment can cause SEVERE damage to the vehicle underbody. Also, just replacing the airbag won't help. The SRS control module must be replaced as well. The cost of the parts, in addition to the probable underbody damage make this one a "no-brainer" for the insurance company, given the age of the car.

Perhaps if your not real bright and use NEW parts on a 15+ year old car purchased diretly from an expensive retail source. The car in question will go straight to a rebuilder the title will be washed to get rid of the salvage and the repairs will be made and then the car will go to an auto auction and then a dealer. The insurance industry and the rebuilders are in bed with one another. The insurance companies total cars that are repairable and the rebuilders buy them patch them back together and sell them to consumers at a hefty profit. The insurance companies love this because they can total a car quickly sell the wreck just as quickly and rip the consumer off by starting negotiaions off under wholesale value on the car.

Even with "Severe" underbody damage the airbag and module could be replaced and any collateral damage could be repaired (brake cables and exhaust damage) and the car would still be quite safe to drive.

To the original owner. If you want to see something real amusing wait about 6 months and do a carfax on your VIN. You will be amazed to see it has a washed title and its probably registered to its new owner in another state.

The insurance companies and rebuilders have been defrauding consumers for years like this and will continue not matter what laws are put into place and no matter how carfax tries to adapt. There are too many loopholes in state laws and the vehicles are moved around a lot to take advantage of these laws.

Hope your o.k. and good luck

If what you say is true, the next owner (if there will ever be one) will be the one who gets screwed, not cangold. No reputable shop will install used parts on an airbag system. As far as the underbody damage is concerned, don't kid yourself. Every car I've seen this happen to actually had the sheet metal above the driveshaft sliced wide open. The interior wiring beneath the center console was shredded to bits. Two of them had the transmission housing broken. The shift rod, driveshaft, and exhaust system also had severe damage. The cars were all totalled partly because of the cost, but mostly because they couldn't be fixed properly.

How about flood damaged cars?
 

Hey, Iluvmils, how about flood-totaled cars. I expect there are plenty of those on used car lots around the country these days. Can they be patched together well enough to seem to be in good condition only to begin falling apart after the sale?

I'm not sure exactly what the issues are, but presumably the electronics don't fair too well after flooding.

air bag deployment is almost always results in a total in a 5-7 year plus old car....

Mostly this is profit and liability generated. If you buy a used car your also buying a used airbag. That's dangerous right? <eyeroll>

I don't trust insurance companies and I don't trust CarFax.

The damage caused by saltwater is devastating. Electrical connectors begin to corrode after just a few hours, but the SMELL is horrendous. I've seen lots of cars totalled because they sat in just a foot or so of saltwater. The insurance adjusters don't waste much time inspecting these cars. They know the car is junk.

With the 220 S-Class you don't even need a flood to cause flood damage!!! The water drain at the front cowl can get clogged by leaves and other stuff. When this happens, rain water pours into the front passengers footwell area and works it's way back to the rear SAM and fuse box. ML's have similar issues (but without all the electronics!). A car in this condition that sits in a downpour for just a few hours can be considered a flood victim.
Since it's fresh water though, the carpets can be removed and cleaned, the water-logged electronics replaced, and everything is fine. I've got several clients' who have gone through this and haven't had any water related issues since.

I've never had to inspect a car that's been underwater completely, but the amount of work needed to make it presentable would be far too great to be considered "patched together". It's hard for me to imagine a modern MB that's been thoroughly soaked, would function normally for a short time and then develop problems. I think you'd have some pretty serious issues right away. But hey, that's only my opinion.

How did this happen? They raised the amount?

I have been on the gulf coast for the last couple months and seen a number of "flood cars", and storm damage. They go the whole range from total swamp muck junk to good looking cars that don't seem to have gotten wet. I suspect that some of them were taken in "general roundups", that is, I think that some areas were declared that all cars in the area were totaled without much inspection.

I saw one I would have bought but don't have an empty stall in the barn right now.

Charming. Yet another reason not to buy a 220 other than the fact that it feels so cheap in comparision to a 140. :)

Even worse than water is chlorine gas. I had a friend that's car was involved in a chlorine gas accident. Everything metal in the car started to corrode like it was in salt water for years.

Water damage is one of those things that people over react to. Its not the water that really gets you its the silt and dirt that the water brings with it into your engine and transmission that gets you. Most people hear water damage and run screaming. If junior decided to see how fast daddy's car would fill through the sunroof its much less of a nightmare than a car that went through katrina and has 2 inch thick layer of mud all over it.